GURPS Technomancer

Diego Montoya

Description:

Diego León Montoya Sánchez (born January 11, 1958/1961), also known as Don Diego, is a former Colombian crime boss leader of the Norte del Valle drug cartel. Montoya became a billionaire as he built the Norte del Valle cartel into an organization that smuggled hundreds of tons of cocaine and supplanted the mighty Cali cartel. On October 25, 2002, Montoya was listed as a Specially Designated Narcotics Trafficker on the United States Department of Treasury’s Specially Designated National List (also known as La Lista Clinton). According to FBI estimates, the Norte del Valle cartel at its peak was responsible for 60 percent of the cocaine exported from Colombia to the United States. Prosecutors alleged the cartel shipped more than 1.2 million pounds (544,300 kg) of cocaine worth more than $10 billion to the United States between 1990 and 2004. A two-year battle between Montoya and another cartel kingpin, Wilber Varela, from 2003 to 2005 resulted in hundreds of deaths, prosecutors said.

On 6 May 2004 he became the 478th fugitive listed by the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. Montoya was also wanted in Colombia, where authorities started numerous operations to capture him or his interests. The United States Department of State’s Narcotics Rewards Program offered reward of up to $5 million for information leading directly to his arrest or conviction, the highest amount offered at the time for a non-terrorist fugitive, effectively making the priority of his capture second only to that of Osama bin Laden.

On January 15th 2007, Montoya’s brother and co-leader of the cartel, Eugenio, was captured in Colombia. On September 10th 2007 Colombian authorities announced that they had arrested Montoya himself in the west of the country after a long manhunt.

On December 12, 2008 Montoya was extradited to Miami on a D.E.A. helicopter, marking the final demise of the Norte del Valle Cartel. He was scheduled to appear in court for 12 charges including drug trafficking, obstruction of justice, money-laundering and murder.

On Wednesday the 21st of October, 2009, a federal judge in Miami sentenced Montoya to 45 years in Prison. Montoya had pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to import cocaine and obstruction of justice in August.

On January 14th, 2012, after serving only two years of his 45 year sentence, Montoya escaped from prison. According to the authorities, his whereabouts are unknown.